'Stand Your Ground' Law Topic of Cumberland Program on Jan. 30

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Posted by Mary Wimberley on 2014-01-24

A specialist in "stand your ground" law will lecture and lead a discussion at Samford University's Cumberland School of Law Thursday, Jan. 30. The public is invited free of charge to the 11 a.m. program in the moot courtroom of Robinson law building.

The program, "Stand Your Ground Laws: The Dilemma of Discretion, Race and Culture," is presented as part of Cumberland's Cordell Hull Speakers Forum series.

Tamara F. Lawson, a professor at Saint Thomas University School of Law in Florida, will discuss the dynamics of discretionary decisions made in homicide cases such as the 2013 Trayvon Martin/George Zimmerman case and other high profile criminal trials.

Lawson, who teaches criminal law, criminal procedure and evidence law, and leads a seminar on race and the law, has done extensive research on Florida's "stand your ground" law and on self-defense laws nationally. Her writings on the Trayvon Martin case include an article that was published in the University of Florida Journal of Law and Public Policy. She has also written a chapter for an upcoming book on the subject.

For more information on the program, call Cumberland School of Law at (205) 726-2400.

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About Samford University – Samford University is a premier nationally ranked private university deeply rooted in its Christian mission. Founded in 1841, Samford is the 87th oldest institution of higher education in the United States. U.S. News & World Report ranks Samford 4th among regional universities in the South. Samford enrolls 5,619 students from 44 states, the District of Columbia and 29 other countries in its 10 academic units: arts, arts and sciences, business, divinity, education, health professions, law, nursing, pharmacy, and public health. Samford also fields 17 NCAA Division I teams that compete in the tradition-rich Southern Conference.